Autumn's Dreams
by Astereal
Summary: In a world where demons existed, cat demon Sasuke returns to his hometown in hopes of meeting his promised lover. However, he later found him in love with another. yaoi! Eventual NaruSasu.
1. Prologue

**Autumn's Dreams**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters._

Warning: This story contains shounen-ai, which is boy X boy love. Read at your own risk. 

Don't blame me if you got a heart attack. Rated M for a reason.

**Prologue**

"There he is! Don't let him get away!" someone yelled as they ran through the thick forest.

"Damn it!" the said raven haired boy cursed as the quickly jumped from tree to tree in an attempt the escape his captors. _'I can't die yet…there's something important that I must do…at least…at least…let me see him…one more time…' _he fingered the silver bracelet, the one he received from the one he loved. Sparks of determination flown through his onyx black eyes, he continued running despite of his tiredness.

The chase went on for hours until night falls onto the forest, covering it with absolute darkness. Finally, they cornered their target at a cliff with rushing waters below. The one with silver hair spoke up.

"My, my, Sasuke-kun, you of all people should know the consequences of running away from Orochimaru-sama, not a very wise choice now isn't it."

Sasuke pants, exhausted from the chase, he darted his eyes around hoping to find an escape route. No such luck.

"No way am I going to stay one more second with that snake!" he spat angrily. "Unlike you Kabuto, I'm not the one following him around like a love sick puppy! You make me sick!"

The trackers glared at Sasuke for making such a comment of their leader; however Kabuto merely smiled at him and said,

"Such temper you got there, ne, Sasuke-kun. Unfortunately, that is not going help out with this situation; you are an important test subject for Orochimaru-sama so we have to drag you back regardless of your will."

He snapped his fingers and the underlings, Sound Four jumped into action. Sasuke dodges their punches and blows as best as he could, however no avail. That's five against one damn it! In addition of his exhaustion from the chase he finally collapsed.

Sasuke coughed out blood, damn, at least two of his ribs are broken. Kabuto stood in front of him, with that sadist smile hanging on his face and tapped Sasuke's nose lightly while tsking. Sasuke glared at him and gave an angry hiss.

"I'm not going back!" he shouted and he struggled with his last strength, which finally broke free from his captors. He kicked Kabuto in the shin and jumped down to the icy depths below.

Kabuto and the Sound Five looked in shock and dismay as their target disappeared into the black icy waters. "Shit, Orochimaru-sama isn't going to be happy."


	2. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters._

"talking"

'_thinking'_

**Chapter 1**

In a peaceful morning in Konoha village… "GAKI! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!!" Alright maybe not so peaceful… The alpha male of the village is currently running away from his raging predecessor, Tsunade.

The villagers sniggered as they saw the ordinary daily occurrence; however no one is stupid enough to stand in Tsunade's way in fear of being killed. The alpha male with golden blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes glanced back and screamed, "NO WAY BAA-CHAN! TOO MUCH PAPER WORK!! GIVE ME A BRE…!" He wasn't able to finish the sentence as a fist landed on his face and sent him 5 feet away on the street.

"NARUTO!!! As the alpha male, it is your duty to keep the village and pack in check. Don't go running of childishly!" said a pink haired cat demon as she glared at him.

Naruto coughed on the dust and argued, "Demo! Sakura-chan! That crazy baa-chan had been working me non-stop for days! I need a break! Come o…Ouch!"

Tsunade had finally caught up and now pulling Naruto on the ear with her honey coloured eyes blazing at him, "Gaki, it's your job as alpha male, the leader of this pack to protect this village from human hunters and rival packs, you sworn an oath when you were appointed remember! So don't go whining about a few paper works!" lectured the honey coloured wolf demon furiously.

Naruto head dropped along with his nine fox tails behind him. Naruto is a fox demon with a high rank due to the sealing of the legendary fox demon, Kyuubi, inside him giving him his nine tails along with tremendous power, which is the reason he was appointed as the alpha male by the village elders.

Konoha village is the settlement of the demons for thousands of years in order to protect themselves from human hunters. There are also plenty of packs like Sand and Sound, or stray packs who are often on the move. However when non allied packs met, often a battle for territory will take place resulting in blood spill and death. Hence, it is essential for the alpha male to fight and protect for their packs. Each demon varied in their demon form and abilities, usually due to blood linage. There're also certain clans with special bloodline abilities, like the Hyuuga clan and the Inuzuka clan.

Speaking of Hyuuga, the genius brown wolf demon, Hyuuga Neji suddenly appeared to the group and said, "Naruto, patrol found a cat demon near the river." Naruto straighten up and said, "How's the condition?" Now is serious business, no time for jokes, even Tsunade and Sakura kept silent and listened.

"I heard it from Kiba, he seemed pretty injured and ill, it's best if Sakura should come with. It seems he posed no threat, yet."

Naruto pondered at this information and said, "Alright, Sakura take a team of medics with you and Tsunade baa-chan can be stand by at the hospital. I will come with you Neji."

Neji nodded and beckoned Naruto to follow him as they leapt from tree to tree in Konoha forest, heading towards Nakano River. When they reached there, three demons were waiting for them.

Inuzuka Kiba, a brown dog demon of the Inuzuka clan gave them a grin and waved at them while an enormous white dog, Akamaru stood beside him barked and wagged his tail. Beside him, is a brown deer demon, Naara Shikamaru looking extremely bored as always muttered, "Troublesome…"

Naruto waved at them and asked, "Where is he?" Both of them turned and pointed. Naruto walked and widen his eyes as he saw a black cat demon lying by the riverbank unconscious.

**A/N: So how was it? This is my first fic please don't kill me! I try to write better next time! Please review. ******


	3. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters._

"talking"

'_thinking'_

**Chapter 2**

"_MOTHER! FATHER!" screamed Sasuke as his parents fell and their blood spattered on him. He glanced up to the golden eyes of their killer and screamed, "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" He tried to back away from him but he kept slipping on his parents' cold, wet crimson blood with tears pouring down his cheeks and his onyx eyes were wide with fear._

"_Help me…someone…anyone…Itachi-nii…please…" _

_Suddenly, a black cat demon stood in front of him and raised his katana towards the killer. Sasuke looked up and said, "Nii-san!" _

_His brother, Itachi turned his crimson eyes towards Sasuke and shouted,_

"_RUN SASUKE!"_

"_But…nii-san…"_

"_Sasuke just run! Don't worry, I'll catch up! Go!"_

_Sasuke hesitated and turned to run out towards the door. He ran out to the streets of the Uchiha compound as fast as his little legs can take him with tears pouring down his eyes._

"_Nii-san will come…his promised… nii-san is very strong…"_

_Suddenly, a pale hand grabbed his shoulders; he looked up and saw a pair of golden eyes glowing in the darkness._

"_Run as much as you like Sasuke-kun, no matter where you go, I will always find you."_

Sasuke opened his eyes and shot up from the covers. _'Damn, that dream again, it's been 6 years since that happened.' _ Panting deeply, he looked around his surroundings. It's a typical white hospital room with an I.V drop attached to his arm. _'Well, this ain't hell, I'm sure that I'm not dead.' _ He glanced out the window and saw a village with villagers conducting their daily task. '_Well, at least it's safe to assume I'm not at Sound, with that bloody snake.' _His body gave a shudder when he thought of the snake demon. His long black tail gave a wag of discontent.

"You finally woke up, you had us worry for a moment there, and we thought that you won't wake up."

Sasuke turned towards the voice and saw a blonde demon fox with cerulean blue eyes. His body is well-built and tanned surrounded by an air of cockiness. He noticed nine fox tails behind him and by fox demon standards, he must be strong. At first glance, Sasuke knew who he is, '_Naruto,'_ the one he's been searching for, and he fingered the silver bracelet nervously,andthought_ 'Does he even remember me? Well, time to test it out…' _he then replied,

"How unexpected to have the alpha male of the pack to visit me personally, don't you have other work to attend to?"

Naruto glared at him and said, "Great, just our luck, we've picked up a prissy bastard, you could have at least thank us for fishing you out from the river."

"Why should I thank a moron like you? Dobe."

"Teme."

"Dobe."

"Teme!

"Dobe!"

"TEME! Ouch!"

Sakura whacked Naruto on the head and scolded, "Naruto! Don't go yelling at my patients!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and mumbled something and Sakura turned and said, "What's that Naruto? Speak up or I can't hear you."

"Nothing." He said quickly with a grin.

Sasuke heard it with his acute cat hearing, and that sure hell wasn't a compliment. And Sakura being a cat demon herself must have heard it because she gave him another whack on the head. Sasuke gave a small smile, it felt like old times, with their usual squabbles and Sakura who once had a crush on him whacked Naruto on the head for quarreling with him.

Sakura turned with a satisfied smile on her face and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit… where am I?" asked Sasuke.

"Konoha village, you're pretty lucky you know."

"How long was I out?"

"About a week or so, well, that isn't a surprise considering your injuries."

"Injuries?"

"Yeap, two broken ribs, fractured arm, bruising and bleeding here and there, hypothermia, and a serious concussion. No wonder you're unconscious for so long." replied Sakura as she checked the check board. "And it's best if you don't remove that." she said, pointing to the cast on his left arm.

"Yeah, what happened to you teme? What, you tripped and fell flat on your face or something?" said Naruto with a grin on his face.

Sasuke averted his eyes from his and replied, "Accident, chased by some hunters and fell into the river, dobe." He knew that he is lying through his teeth but he sure ain't going to tell the truth. Hopefully there's a place for him here, then he can reveled his true identity one day. But not now, if Orochimaru got a wind of an Uchiha in this village, no doubt he'll burn it to the ground, he never liked this village anyway.

"Sheesh, you sure are prissy! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the alpha male of this pack and that's Haruno Sakura, my childhood friend and our medic." He said as he extended his hand while Sakura gave him a smile.

"Sasuke." he replied as he shook Naruto's hand. He might be imagined it but, he was sure that both Naruto and Sakura's exterior faltered slightly. Followed by an uncomfortable silence.

Either way, Naruto couldn't stand the nasty silence and said, "Well, Sasuke-teme, for the time being you will have to stay here, until we decide what to do with you."

"Naruto, I…" but Sasuke was suddenly cut off when a rabbit demon with long brownish locks and grayish eyes appeared and hugged Naruto from the back. Naruto gave a full blown smile and hugged him back with their tails wagging frantically.

Seeing Sasuke's shocked expression, Naruto kept one hand on the rabbit's shoulder and said, "Sasuke, this is Haku, my mate."


	4. Chapter 3

**Autumn's Dream**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters._

'_thinking'_

"talking"

**CHAPTER 4**

"_Ne! ne! Nii-san! Who's that?" asked an eight-year-old Sasuke while pointing at a lone blonde fox kit by the swings._

_Itachi felt his younger brother constant tugging on his pants and answered, "A young fox kit, the same age as you and he properly in the same class with you in the academy." _

_Naruto sat on a swing with a downcast expression on his face, his legs were kicking the sands under the swings while he watched the floated sands in the air with a dejected look in his watery blue eyes. His fox tail drooped unhappily onto the dusty ground. Upon hearing Itachi's voice, he turned and glanced at the Uchiha brothers with a hint of envy in his eyes. Then he averted his eyes back to the ground once he felt their eyes on him._

_Sasuke pouted with a worried expression on his face when he noticed Naruto's behaviour. He looked up to his brother and asked, "Ne, nii-san, why is he alone? Doesn't he have any family?"_

"_Maybe he lost them, Sasuke." Itachi replied in monotone._

"_Why? I have you, nii-san, oka-san and otou-san, why doesn't he have anyone?"_

_Itachi smirked, of course he knew the reason, but he wanted a different life for his younger brother instead of being bounded to the Uchiha's view, he wanted him to know the feeling of warmth, friendship, bonds and love. He wanted Sasuke to not follow the cursed path of the Uchiha clan. And Naruto might be the person to guide him because he understood the pain of being alone. He then replied,_

"_Why don't you ask him yourself Sasuke?"_

_Next day…_

_Naruto felt a small poke on his shoulders and turned._

"_Ne… My name is Uchiha Sasuke, what's yours?"_

_*****_

Naruto sat in his office, fingering the golden bracelet on his left wrist while remembering his childhood past. He was practically shocked when the Uchiha Sasuke, the hottest person in the eyes of the academy's female population is actually talking to him. Naruto smirked when he remembered he practically yelled at him, thinking that this is some joke cooked up by the boys in their class. However, he got pounded later by the girls in the classroom for insulting Sasuke.

The Konoha Academy served as a purpose to raise pack members who can play a role in protecting this village and the inhabitants. The education included hunting, common knowledge, taijutsu, ninjutsu and different techniques in different types of demons and so forth.

During the days of the academy, he often considered Sasuke to be his self-proclaimed rival. Sasuke is always at the top of the class, the best of everything, everything he wanted to be. Admired, loved, acknowledge… While he's just a little brat that was hated, abandoned, despised because of the sealing of the Kyuubi inside him.

He doesn't hate Kyuubi as much as before now, since he merged with Kyuubi, body and soul, he gained great power, acting as a great advantage in battle.

But then, the day he truly trusted Sasuke, finally came many weeks later…

_It was hunting class in Konoha Academy. Each student was required to hunt down an animal in the forest and bring it back before sunset. As usual, Sasuke was succeeding whereas Naruto was not succeeding. Sasuke already gotten his kill and now was heading back to the academy while Naruto was struggling to get the rabbit into his trap._

"_Damn it! Get in you freaking piece of shit!" cursed sweating Naruto as he tried shoving the brown rabbit into the cage. However, in his futile attempts to do so, he didn't notice a dark figure creeping up behind him. Suddenly the figure clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth. Naruto gave a muffled scream and struggled, dropping the rabbit in the process. His fox fur was standing up in fear._

_Naruto kicked, punched and bit the guy as hard as he could. He gave a painful yell when Naruto sank his fangs into his arm, hard. Naruto took this chance and broke free out of the guy's grip. He turned and gasped as he caught a glimpse of his almost kidnapper's face. _

_Mizuki-sensei…_

_2 years ago, Mizuki was one of Naruto's homeroom teachers. He always acted kind and nice around Naruto, treating him like any other student. Naruto was happy back then, because he was treated as an ordinary person, instead of a demon vessel. But then, in the middle of a practical assignment, Mizuki tried to kill Naruto by throttling him. Naruto thought that it was all over, until Iruka-sensei suddenly jumped out of nowhere and saved his life. Mizuki-sensei was arrested and locked up in Konoha's prison since then._

_He later learnt that Mizuki-sensei's lover was killed during the Kyuubi's raid. Shaken with grief, he's been plotting revenge towards Naruto ever since. So, everything he said to Naruto was all a lie._

_Those kind words… had been a lie… Everything… was just an illusion…_

_Since that day, he barely trusted anyone anymore. He had sworn to gain other's acknowledgement with his own will power. But then… you can't really do that when you're dead can you? Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder; Mizuki threw a kunai at him when he was dozing off. Fresh red blood was pouring out of his wound, with the kunai still embedded there; his eyes widen in fear and screamed. _

_Younger Sasuke turned his head around, his onyx black eyes widening as he heard a fearful scream behind. 'It doesn't sound far…' He glanced ahead; the academy is just in sight. He looked down at his cage with a white hare in it; the rabbit looked back at him 'What should I do?'_

_Naruto ran with twigs and branches scrapping his tan skin now and then while he clutched on his bleeding shoulder. 'I'm gonna die! I don't want to die yet!' He wiped his tears with his free hand, his heart is beating frantically inside him, small cuts and bruise littered on his skin. He gave a small sob and kept on running._

_Suddenly, Mizuki-sensei jumped out from the bushes with a crazed look in his eyes._

"_You've killed her… you made me lost everything… YOU MONSTER!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!! Then people will cheer when I hang your pitiful body on the flag post! No ones going to mourn for you monster… everyone hates you! I shall end your pitiful existence!"_

_Then he threw his head up with a maniacal laugh. His laugh echoed throughout the forest. Naruto gave a soft whimper, knowing what he said was true. Mizuki held a katana in his hand and threw the katana at Naruto. He closed his eyes, knowing everything is over. _

_A cry of pain was heard and crimson blood splattered all over the ground. Naruto opened his eyes and saw a raven cat demon fell in front of him onto the damp forest floor. The katana is stabbed into his stomach with blood flowing out profusely. Sasuke's eyes are glazed and he was coughing bright red blood that tickled down his chin._

"_SASUKE!!!"_

"_Na…ru…t…o…" _

_Naruto ran to Sasuke's side not knowing what to do, he stared in horror when he saw the crimson liquid flowing out from Sasuke's body. He held Sasuke's cold shivering body in his arms, trying to keep him warm._

"_Sasuke…why?"_

"_I don't…know…my body moved…itself…" saying so, he gave a violent coughing fit._

"_Sasuke! Don't talk please…just rest…you'll be fine…" he kept stroking Sasuke's raven hair and cat ears, hoping to calm him. Actually Naruto was panicking; he then snapped his head upwards when he heard Mizuki-sensei said,_

"_Uchiha! And I thought that you were a genius! Who thought you will be this stupid to jump in front of this monster!" _

_Hearing this, Naruto's eyes flashed red, anger rose to the surface as fast as molten lava rises from the ground. Fiery red chakra surrounded Naruto body, healing all the wounds he initially obtained. Mizuki widen his eyes when he released that he had gone overboard, suddenly he was thrown backwards by a sudden chakra flare. And the flare came again and again and again, pummeling his body non-stop mercilessly. His skin were splitting, blood was gashing out from the wounds and then let out a fearful scream for help._

_Naruto had a sadist smile on his face as he pummeled his enemy without even lifting a finger. It was exhilarating, to have so much power. Kill him! Kill him! Kill Him!_

"_NARUTO…STOP!!!"_

_He felt a pale cold hand tugging his arm. Sasuke was breathing shallowly, he gasped, "Naruto…if you kill him… you will just prove that…what he …said…is true…stop...please…" _

_Naruto calmed down, the red chakra slowly dissipated, "Sasuke…" _

"_NARUTO!! Are you al…oh god…" Iruka-sensei appeared into the clearing and shocked when seeing Sasuke's state. "Kakashi! Get over here now!"_

_A white wolf demon with a mask and bandana covering his face, leaving only a visible grey eye appeared. He took a quick surveillance scan of the situation and quickly applied direct pressure to his wound to slow down the bleeding. Naruto held the now unconscious Sasuke in his arms, unwilling to let go. Kakashi then barked to Iruka,_

"_Iruka! Get the medics here now!" Iruka quickly complied._

He nearly lost Sasuke that day despite the fact that neither of them knew much about each other. But he would be drowning in guilt and sorrow if Sasuke didn't pull through. Imagine everyone's astonishment when Sasuke and he were chatting happily 3 days later in the hospital. Both Iruka-sensei and Itachi was glad that Naruto and Sasuke became friends. Years passed, both of them became inseparatable. Later, Naruto confessed his love to Sasuke which he accepted. They were supposed to live a happy life; Sasuke was supposed to be at Naruto's election of alpha male ceremony 2 years ago. But then, Sasuke did not make it to his 13-years-old birthday. He perished along with the Uchiha clan.


	5. Chapter 4

**Autumn's Dream**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters._

'_thinking'_

"talking"

**CHAPTER 4**

Everyone is gathered in Naruto's office. In other words, all his betas of the pack are here. The betas acted as assistants for the alpha, they usually advised him in certain matters, assist him in any activities or battles and educate the cubs.

Tsunade, being the head medic is of course present along with Jiraiya, a white fox demon who was eying Tsunade's figure secretly. Maito Gai, a leopard demon with bushy eyebrows and wearing a green spandex looks quite cheerful, although he kept eyeing Kakashi. Next to him is Hatake Kakashi who was humming while reading his orange book known as 'Icha Icha Paradise', one of Jiraiya's best work. However he is being glared distastefully by a brown fox demon, Umino Iruka, for reading it openly in public. Hyuuga Neji stood opposite of him with an unreadable look on his face, whereas Naara Shikamaru just stood beside looking bored and yawned. Beside him stood black wolf demon Sarutobi Asuma with a cigarette in his mouth and Yuuhi Kurenai, a red-eyed cat demon.

Sakura was the only non-beta present, she had a solemn look on her face and her emerald eyes were tingled with worry. Naruto, being the alpha male remained sitting behind his desk with worry written all over his face. He gave a deep sigh and asked,

"Neji, how's the search going on?"

"We've followed the trail upstream as you said, and evidence of a battle was found 10 miles from the village, by the looks of it, the cat demon was being pursuit by 5 other demons. Their battle trail extends from the boundary of Sound territory to upstream of Nakano River."

"Sound?"

Mumbles of worry can be heard from the group. Unlike the Sand pack, Sound pack is in direct opposition of Konoha pack, among the rival packs, Sound is the most hostile because they are lend by a former pack member of Konoha, Orochimaru, who was once a close friend of Jiraiya and Tsunade. However, he was convicted for conducting illegal experiments and the rebellion against the fourth alpha male, Naruto's father, Uzumaki Minato. He was later banished from the pack for ever, never to return again. But then, he raised the Sound pack for a hostile take over of the Konoha pack few years later and had become an active threat since.

Shikamaru suddenly spoke up, "But then, we have more troublesome matters at hand. That lone demon we picked up, he's called Sasuke right?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes and replied, "Uchiha Sasuke died 6 years ago in the Uchiha massacre, and just because another person has he same name as him doesn't make him the same person. We have to consider the possibility that he might be a spy for Orochimaru!"

"Now, now, Jiraiya-sama, just because he appeared from Sound territory doesn't mean that he is a spy, he might just be a lone demon who just happened to offend them." said Kakashi calmly as he snapped his book shut.

Tsunade then said, "Besides, we cannot rule him out as an Uchiha yet. Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi's body are still remained missing until today."

"Then why didn't he admit his identity then? With him we can know the true reason and culprit of the Uchiha massacre, that case had been unsolved for years. There were no clues, no nothing, hell we didn't even know how many culprits are there and how they entered Konoha territory undetected, much less assassinate an entire clan." Asuma said.

Naruto shook his head and said, "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this, for the time being…" however he was suddenly cut short by Sakura.

"How could you say this Naruto? Didn't you see how he acted? How he looked? He acted just like Sasuke-kun! He talked just like Sasuke-kun! He looked just like Sasuke-kun! You even quarrel with him just like with Sasuke-kun!" she cried hysterically.

"Sakura-chan…"

"Sasuke-kun is our comrade, our friend! He went to Konoha Academy with us together! We fought, we laugh, we cried together! No matter what, he will always be a part of this pack! Always! Now there's a small chance to find out whether is he still alive! We should take it! You loved him once don't you?" saying so, she ran out of the room with tears streaming down her cheeks, and Tsunade ran after her calling her name.

Naruto gave an unconscious grip on his bracelet mumbling, "That was a long time ago, Sakura-chan…"

Deep down Naruto knew that what Sakura said was true. When he first saw him, he was shocked thinking that Sasuke had returned. When they spoke for the first time in the hospital, it felt like talking to Sasuke again, and Sasuke was the only one who called him dobe. And he would do anything to get his best friend back.

Above them, unknowing to all, a figure hid in the ventilation shaft listening to all their conversation. The figure gave a knowing nod and a hidden smile before slowly creeping away.

*****

Sasuke was walking on Konoha's street during midday, he was released from the hospital two weeks ago. Ordinary members of the pack were sending glances and whispers towards him. Obviously the rumor regarding him being the last Uchiha spreaded like wildfire. At this rate, Orochimaru will definitely come knocking. He gave a groan, why can't these people keep their mouth shut? _'Damn'_ he cursed inwardly as he saw the glances given by the female population. '_Fan girls'_ even Sound was no exception. He quickly took a side trip as the crowd behind was growing in size. He ran though several small paths and finally lost them.

Before he knew it, he ended up in front of the Uchiha compound, his old home. The place was completely deserted, cracks had begun to appear on the once white walls and moss had been creeping on the wooden walls. Brown leaves were scattered around the ground drifted across the compound floor as a wind blew pass. A heavy silence settled around the compound giving one an uneasy feeling, maybe that's the reason why no one wanted to come down here. He gave a soft sigh; everything had changed in this 6 years absence.

The village had new buildings built, some roads and blocked and new ones are built, he barely recognize the streets anymore, he actually gotten lost during the first few days in Konoha. _'My friends…'_ His friends changed the most of all.

Neji and Shikamaru… he always expected Neji to become a beta, but Shikamaru? That was unexpected, seems like he had an IQ of 200 underneath that lazy demeanor. Kiba, that dog demon that was always tagging with Naruto finally had the guts to ask the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata to be his mate, and Hinata seemed to be bolder that before, she doesn't stammer that much anymore. Chouji wasn't as chubby as before but he enjoyed chewing down junk food as before, although he ate less now. Ino…well she became more sensible now… although she still chased after him. Shino is still Shino… Tenten …err…he doesn't know her much. Lee was even crazier than before especially with that bowel hair cut, how does Sakura stand that? Sakura… she used to have a crush on him, but now it's over, she actually a very good friend, he enjoyed her presence sometimes. She's now a qualified medic and Lee's mate. It seemed that his undying devotion towards her actually bear fruit. Sasuke gave a soft chuckle at this thought. Kakashi, well… he hasn't changed much, except the fact that he had mated with Iruka-sensei, his academy teacher. All of them had matured and grown, they became stronger; their bonds strengthen during his absence.

And finally…Naruto. He's the one that changed the most. He rose from being the dead-last of them lot to the alpha male of the pack. Although he still had that goofy smile plastered on his face now and then but he had grown, no longer the scrawny little prankster he once known, he's now the well-built leader of the pack, respected by all. He even got a mate now, Haku. His heart ached thinking so, Naruto… the person he's been waiting for, the person who he endured hell and survived, the person he came back for, he person he will loved no matter what, could never be in his reach. He could never step out from the boundary that differentiates friends and lovers. Sasuke couldn't break them up even if he tried, he saw both Naruto and Haku together, and they truly loved each other, their eyes sparkle when they saw each other, their smiles when they're together.

Sasuke's heart sank as the fingered the silver bracelet; it was a gift, a promise when Naruto confessed his love for him 7 years ago. Now, his heart ached when he saw them together, the loving smile that Naruto once gave only to him, is now given to someone else. Sasuke clutched his chest, of all the scenarios that thought back in Sound, he never expected this, he thought no matter how long it took, Naruto will wait for him, but they had all moved on, Uchiha Sasuke was now a mere memory of the past, he was being left behind.

Sasuke knew, that he was being watched, everyone is guarded against him, they do not trust him as they once did, even if they did, they could never remained the same as the past. Sure, they chatted and hang out from time to time after his return, however circumstances had changed, and he never thought that he would be as lonely as in Sound. Despite that, he was contented to have life remaining this way, in order to avoid upsetting the delicate balance now, he could never be Uchiha Sasuke, just Sasuke will do.

He looked at the tombstone in front of him,

_Here Lies, _

_Uchiha Sasuke_

_Lost but not Forgotten_

_Rest In Peace_

He chuckled as he looked at it; it's quite ironic to stare at his supposedly resting place. He glanced at the surroundings of the Uchiha Cemetery, it's well kept and flowers can be seen on some tombstone. Seemingly the Uchiha clan had not been forgotten; friends still paid their respects from time to time.

He placed the white roses on his father and mother tomb, and later on his brother's tomb. He kneeled down before them, giving a few minutes of silence; this was the first time paying a visit to his family's tomb since their death. _'I hope you're all well in the afterlife… I really miss all of you a lot…' _Their deaths are still vividly attached to his mind, courtesy of Orochimaru.

He missed them a lot, his mother's warm smile and cooking, his father strictness and odd display of affection, he was the clan leader after all… And most of all, Itachi, his elder brother. He missed the times they played together, the times they've trained together, the times where Itachi shared is odd philosophies that he could never understood as a child, even the times he made fun of him. He missed the warmth and protection of a family that could never be replaced, their laughs together, but now could never return. He felt tears forming in his eyes which were later wiped away.

He then stood up, shivering at the eerie silence of the graveyard. As he turned, his black ears pickled with discomfort. He glanced around his surroundings and said loudly,

"Come on out, I know you're here, show yourself!"

POOF!

Kakashi suddenly appeared beside him with a puff of white smoke with an amused look in his uncovered eye.

"Coming to pay your family and yourself a visit, aren't you, Sasuke-kun?"

*****

"Is this information true? Kabuto."

"I'm positive, Orochimaru-sama, the information was sent by the spy himself. Sasuke-kun is currently in Konoha." replied Kabuto pushing his glasses.

"Well, I should have known… his ties with his hometown haven't been severed after all, very well, send them to retrieve him immediately." hissed Orochimaru with a chuckle.

"As you wish Orochimaru-sama," said Kabuto with a smile on his face.


	6. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters._

**A/N: Hey people! Sorry for the late update, my internet connection died on me. Imagine it, weeks without the internet! It was torture! Good thing I pulled through without going crazy. Now on with the story!**

**CHAPTER 5**

Sasuke stares at Kakashi with shock as he poof out of nowhere with an amuse expression on his partially covered face. The winds in the cemetery whisked by, leaving a trail of drifting fallen leaves and an echoing silence. Kakashi then decides to break the unbearable thick silence.

"Yo Sasuke, how are you doing?"

Sasuke death glares him, knowing that his not-so-secret is now exposed while Kakashi continues placing the amuse expression on his face with an orange book in his hand. _Typical…he barely changed at all… _thought Sasuke.

"What do you want Kakashi?"

"Now, now, Sasuke, is there any way to speak to your teacher whom you haven't seen in 6 years? In case your wondering why I'm here, I'm merely visiting an old friend and to my luck, I found you confessing your feelings to your parents,"said Kakashi as he gestures to a nearby older tomb.

'_Uchiha Obito…my cousin…killed during a raid from the Mist pack 12 years ago. But I never really know him very well before…''_

Kakashi glances at Sasuke thoughtfully then pulls him out of his thoughts by speaking. "Sasuke…want to get some ramen?" Sasuke sweatdrops and stares at him with confusion written on his face.

"No"

"Come on Sasuke, I bet you haven't tasted good ramen in the past 6 years and Ichiraku Ramen is the best there is. It'll be just like old times when we ate ramen together after a tedious training session."

Sasuke glared at him and replied, "The times have changed, I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi, you can't bribe me to spill out my guts by giving me food."

"Really…I don't recall…"said Kakashi with an innocent smile under his mask. When they were young, Kakashi was in charge of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's development. Each time they attempted to hide a guilty secret from Kakashi, being an observant sensei, he bribe them with food. And each time, Naruto spilled the beans due to the promise of filling his bottomless stomach which got them into trouble more then one occasion. Although… Naruto did receive the redemption of fury from the others later.

"Now Sasuke no need to be rude, unless you want me to spread that wonderful secret of yours to the world," said Kakashi in an innocently pleasant tone.

Sasuke is pissed, that's blackmail! Shouldn't that be illegal or something? He glares at Kakashi, wanting nothing more then to smash that smirking face of his. Kakashi looks at the young demon teen, amused by his fuming expression, obviously Sasuke is going to answer…

"Hn…fine…"

*****

6 years ago…

_A 13-year-old Naruto was standing under a large oak tree waiting for a certain someone. Pure white snowflakes were drifting down slowly to the ground, placing themselves on any surface available, painting the earth into a snowy landscape. A winter breeze whispered by causing Naruto to shiver and wrapped his orange scarf tightly around him. _

"_Damn it! Where is he?" exclaimed a pissed off Naruto, he was freezing in the middle of winter, his teeth is clattering, and he wanted a hot bowl of ramen more than anything! Okay… maybe not anything._

_The person in question was obviously the 12-year-old Sasuke (Naruto got held back by 1 year due to over failing in the academy) who had not been sighted yet. Why? You ask. Obviously that today was 14__th__ February, a.k.a Valentine's Day and being one of the most popular guys in the academy, Sasuke as per usual was running from his fangirls, who were crazier than usual, hoping to get him as a potential mate. Demons don't usually mate until they came on-age, which was 16-years-old. _

_However, as soon as Naruto hit puberty 1 year ago, he began to have particular feelings around the raven cat demon, like butterflies were flapping in his stomach, like now. Later, he soon discovered that he had an uncontrollable urge to steal more glances of Sasuke when he was in vicinity and he began to have self-consciousness regarding Sasuke's appearance. How his porcelain skin contrasted perfectly with his raven black fur, bring out the intensity of his onyx black orbs… How his movements were always graceful and flawless on his perfectly sculptured body … How his personality that attracted him the most blazed like a wild untamed fire… _

_When he had these thoughts appeared in his mind for the first time, he screamed and slammed his head onto the nearest tree, convinced that he had went crazy for having such thoughts regarding his best friend. However, after countless confessions and advices from his guardian Iruka, occasionally Kakashi and Jiraiya (although it is mostly Iruka, Jiraiya was mainly thrilled about the idea of writing a new Icha Icha Paradise Gay Edition and had not been much of a help what so ever). He finally came in terms of his feelings and built up his courage to confess his feelings on Valentine's Day, which brought us to the current situation. ___

_He was now pissed beyond all reason; Sasuke was late for more that half-an-hour and he was now going to march up to the Uchiha estate and bang on his door until he answered it. 'Maybe that teme got killed by his fangirls and now lying dead in a gutter somewhere! Ha! That served him right for being so good looking!' Although deep down he didn't mean it…_

_As he was going to march of to the Uchiha compound in a huff, Sasuke jumped out from the oak tree and landed right in front of him. Naruto gave a shocked shout and yelled,_

"_Damn it teme! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"_

"_Oh shove it dobe! Do you have any idea how hard it is to outrun to crazy bitches? What's the matter? A little fright too much for the great Uzumaki Naruto?" Sasuke said sarcastically. _

"_Shut it teme! You came late! You have no right to criticize me!"_

"_Do you even know what 'criticize' mean dobe?"_

"_You-!" _

_Eventually their bickering lasted for a moment until both of them cooled down. They stared at each other for a long time, each wondering about the thoughts of the other, with white snowflakes falling slowly onto them. As the snow fell on Sasuke's raven black hair, they stood out perfectly with his appearance, painting a beautiful picture of Sasuke to Naruto. 'He's so beautiful…' Instinctively, Naruto placed his tanned hands on Sasuke's raven locks and slowly brushed the snow away and stroking his hair at the same time. Sasuke seemed to relax and leaned into his touch and had a slight pink blush on his porcelain face, he then purred in content as he mumbled,_

"_Naruto…"_

_Naruto snapped back to reality and quickly withdrew his hands, blushing. Sasuke held down a whine of disappointment. Naruto averted Sasuke's stare and rubbed his golden locks while stammering,_

"_Erm… Er… Sasuke…that was just…I…Er... Damn it…"_

_But, the only thing he received was Sasuke's blank stare, obviously confused and beckoning him to continue. _

"_I LIKE YOU SASUKE!!!" he shouted out._

"_Naruto…?" whispered Sasuke._

"_I meant…I like you more than a friend…and I was wondering that would you be my boyfriend… what I'm trying to say is…I-"_

_However, he was immediately cut off when he felt a pair of soft lips on him. He opened his cerulean eyes and saw a pair of half-lidded onyx black eyes looking back at him with an intense unknown emotion within them. 'Sasuke's lips are really soft and warm…' he thought as he felt an electrical spark between them, leaving him to crave for more contact and warmth._

_He then placed his hands on Sasuke's raven locks and waist, deepening the kiss. He felt Sasuke wrapping his arms around his neck, pulling their body closer together. Naruto then closed his eyes and nipped Sasuke's lips, asking for entrance which was later given. His tongue travelled into his love's moist caravan, tasting, exploring and savoring every moment. Their kiss heaten, leaving both of them unaware of the winter's frost. Each of them focused solely on seeking the warmth and love of the other, holding each other tightly with the fear of losing the other. Naruto wrapped his fox tail around Sasuke's, resulting their tails to intertwined. _

_Sasuke gave a soft moan, causing Naruto to attack his lips more viciously. They broke up for air occasionally, giving Naruto the chance to pin Sasuke onto the trunk of the oak tree, hence intensified the kisses. Finally, the broke up for air, leaving both of them panting and blushing in each other arms. Puffs of white smoke were coming out from their breaths due to the cold of the winter's day._

_Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who was panting for air through his parted red lips with a soft rosy blush on his porcelain cheeks and his deep onyx eyes held only lust and love that was focused solely on him. He hugged Sasuke tightly._

"_You are really beautiful Sasuke…"_

_He heard Sasuke mumbled something into his shoulder, which sounded suspiciously like 'You too…' Naruto smiled. _

_Suddenly, they heard a squeal behind them. Sasuke quickly broke free from Naruto's embrace and turned around to see…_

_An entire horde of Sasuke's fangirls which had turned to yaoi fangirls in a few minutes._

"_Did you see that?"_

"_Dude! That's sooooo hot!" _

"_I think that I'm gonna faint!"_

"_These photos are going to morning's newspapers!"_

_While they were fantasying about the newly-found couple, the-couple-in-question quickly made their escape to Naruto's apartment. When they got there, they were exhausted._

"_Well so much for keeping that a secret…" said Naruto._

"_Yeah…crazy people… Nii-san will never let me live this down when he sees it in the newspaper tomorrow…" mumbles Sasuke, annoyed._

_Naruto then turned to Sasuke, now serious._

"_Sasuke?"_

"_Hn?" _

"_I want to hear your answer."_

_Sasuke focused in eyes onto Naruto's, his blue eyes was filled with nervousness and a slight glimmer of hope. He walked towards Naruto and hugged him, inhaling his scent. 'It's like the fresh scent of summer.' He found that oddly relaxing._

"_I love you too, Naruto."_

_*****_

Naruto sat in his room, pondering about the moment he confessed to Sasuke. A small smile lilts on his features. He was so glad and happy back then, like the luckiest person in the world. But that was in the past, Sasuke died a few months after that, in the Uchiha massacre, he thought that his heart will break when he heard the news, he even ran to the Uchiha compound after that calling Sasuke's name over and over again with tears streaming from his blue eyes, hoping that Sasuke will suddenly emerge with that smirk of his. But it never happened.

For years, he went though countless sleepless nights, often sobbing with Sasuke's memory, his health declined along with his performance in the academy, his glossy fox fur actually started molting. His friends were very worried of him, and it went on for a few months, until Sakura got fed up and gave him a hard punch on his head. She practically screamed at him in the middle of the road, saying that Sasuke would only want them to live his life to the fullest. He finally snapped out from his zombie trance and sworn to live on for his sake. After 4 years of hard work, he was finally appointed as the alpha male.

And now… a cat demon that looked like an older Sasuke…who acts like Sasuke…who has he same name as Sasuke… who is wearing the same silver bracelet he gave to Sasuke…suddenly turned up at Konoha's doorstep. What are the odds? He hadn't spoken to him ever since he was released from the hospital. Naruto guesses that he just didn't want to get his hopes up, he was afraid even though he doesn't want to admit it what if it's just coincidence? What if it's not? What if that's the real Sasuke? What happens then? What about Haku? Who does he really love? Naruto groans in frustration and slams his hand onto the table.

Suddenly, a pair of arm wrap around his neck with the owner's breath in his golden locks. He turns around and sees his current mate, Haku in front of him with a content smile on his face.

"It's nearly autumn now Naruto-kun, the Harvesting Festival is coming soon," whispered Haku as he kissed Naruto softly on the cheek.

"Yea Haku, that sounds nice…" replied Naruto with a forced smile on his face.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun? Is anything troubling you?"

Naruto smiles and says, "It's nothing Haku."

"It is regarding Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto averts his eyes and replies, "Don't worry about it."

"This Sasuke-kun looks like your old lover, doesn't it?" asks Haku as he pointed to a picture frame nearby.

"I know, but it's not him! His gone for 6 years now Haku…"

"But-"

"The dead could never return, Haku," says Naruto while placing his hands on Haku's pale ones. "He's never coming back…"

But deep down, he doesn't know who he is trying to fool.

**A/N: So how was it? Please review! *smiles***


	7. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters._

**A/N: Hey people! Thanks for pointing out with Sasuke's past age issue…I kinda mistype it (smiles guiltily). Either way it's been fixed now. Arigato! **

**CHAPTER 6**

"So he's in Konoha? Dosu," asked a brown dog demon who is standing on a cliff overlooking Konoha village. "This place seems so peaceful; it's hard to imagine that someone like Orochimaru-sama came from that village, so when are we going to strike?"

A bandaged badger demon steps into the clearing and answered, "Don't be too hasty Zaku, it may seem peaceful in these areas, and the Konoha pack is one of the strongest packs around."

"But their Harvesting Festival is coming soon, won't their security be laxer then?" asked a female fox demon as she fingered her long black hair.

"Yea, and there will be fireworks, we can just snatch him under their noses when they are watching it!" exclaimed Zaku.

Dosu glares at him and replies, "Even so, we must be cautious, Sasuke-kun is a newcomer in the pack and there's no doubt that he is continuously observed, one wrong move and we can all end up dead! Besides, you mustn't forget that Sasuke-kun happens to be one of Orochimaru-sama best fighters, his abilities rival Kimimaro and Kabuto, and there's no doubt that he will be expecting us. After all, Orochimaru-sama trained Sasuke-kun himself specially."

Zaku snorts, "I don't see what is so special about him just because he's an Uchiha!"

"And there's still another matter, after all, their alpha male of the pack happens to be the infamous Kyuubi," said Kin matter-a-factly.

"There're many factors that can result in the failure of this mission, and we all know the consequences of that failure."

Zaku and Kin look and Dosu fearfully and gulps. Failure is not an option in the Sound pack and Orochimaru is never known for his kindness.

Dosu stands up and look onto the red horizon, "Let's go then, to Konoha!"

*****

The Harvesting Festival is approaching in less than a week. Everyone is busy with the last minute preparations. Pack members of different rank run around the den with different duties at hand. Decorations are place in every corner of the houses brightening up the den instantly. Stalls of all kinds are build on the streets, promising a huge buffet on the night of the festival. As the grown pack members busy themselves with numerous affairs, the youngsters are skipping around the den with excitement for the largest festival of the year. There is also a huge rush of last minute shopping for yukatas, the traditional clothing that is required to be worn of the Festival Night.

"Sasuke, what do you think of this one?" asked Kakashi as he holds a yukata in front of him with a smile beneath his mask.

Sasuke, who is standing in a corner of the store trying to be unnoticeable as possible twitches. _'We have been doing this for the pass 3 hours! Isn't he slightly bored about this? Besides, why is he asking me anywhere?'_

"It's fine Kakashi."

"That's what you have been saying for every single one I've shown you!"

"If you don't acknowledge my opinions, why are you bothering to ask me?"

"Come on Sasuke! Those aren't sincere, besides, I need to look nice for my dear Iruka-chan!"

"Then why don't you ask him to come shopping with you?"

"I need to surprise him Sasuke, one shouldn't bring a mate for shopping if you want to surprise him, didn't you know that? Besides Sasuke, you're my co-beta, it's your job," replied Kakashi as he wags his wolf tail in front of him.

Sasuke is highly tempted to bite that annoying tail off as his fuming level gets higher and higher. A co-beta is an assistant to a beta; each beta often has co-betas working under them because of the huge amount of their duty. Unfortunately, Sasuke, being Kakashi's only co-beta is now force to attend to these matters.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and mumbles, "Why am I agreeing to this?"

**Flashback**

_Kakashi and Sasuke (forced) were now seated at the Ichiraku Ramen stand eating their lunch._ _Sasuke tried to look what's under Kakashi mask, but failed, somehow he managed to finish his meal before Sasuke can even get a peek at it. 'How does he do that?' groaned Sasuke in frustration. He had been curious about it since he was a young cub, looks like he had to keep wondering about it._

_Kakashi then placed down his chopsticks and asked, "I'll go straight to the point Sasuke, why are you hiding yourself?"_

_Sasuke averted his stare and looked down on his almost untouched ramen and snapped, "It's none of your concern, Kakashi."_

_Unfazed, Kakashi continued, "It's it for someone's sake?"_

_Sasuke didn't reply._

"_It's Naruto isn't it?"_

…………

"_You still love him aren't you? You didn't want to force him to make a decision between you and Haku, you just wanted him to be happy not knowing the truth."_

"_Shut up…"_

"_By doing so, you're hurting him, by the looks of it, he still harbors some feelings for you, and he still wants you back you know…"_

"_It's better this way…he's happy with his mate, there's no need for me to step in and ruin it all. I'm dead, remember?" _

"_Everyone missed you Sasuke…now your appearance gave them hope that you are actually alive. No matter how long you've left, you're always a part of this pack…" said Kakashi in a quiet tone that startled Sasuke greatly._

_Kakashi's white wolf ears perked up as he heard a soft whisper from Sasuke, "I can't…I can't come back anymore… You don't know what I've done in Sound…It's unforgiveable… I'm a murderer…"_

_Kakashi's visible eye widen slightly and placed a comforting hand on the distressed Uchiha, Sasuke was trembling… he seem afraid… He later spoke in a comforting tone,_

"_It's alright Sasuke… there's nothing to fear…you're safe here…"_

_Hearing this, Sasuke's head shot up and panicked, "No…no…he's coming! No matter where I run…he will always find me! I don't want to go back! I don't…"_

"_Who? Who Sasuke?"_

_Sasuke gave him a distressed look and whispered, "Orochimaru…"_

And now, Sasuke regretted deeply of confessing out loud to Kakashi in his distressed state. Kakashi seemed to hover around him all the time; obviously he elected him as his co-beta to keep an eye on him. Kakashi-sensei actually is a very trustworthy demon and a good teacher, not that he will admit that. Besides that, he was fairly certain that Kakashi hadn't reported his true identity to Naruto yet; otherwise the dobe fox will be running down the streets and shouting his name at the top of his lungs.

After he calmed down from his little hysteria, he managed to learn that Naruto did not mate with Haku on his own free will at first. He did so to prevent a pack war with Mist 1 year ago; their mating had created an alliance between Konoha and Mist. However, Naruto managed to warm up to Haku and eventually accepted him as his official mate. Sasuke did not blame him for that, Naruto had to move on and not drone on his 'death'. As long Naruto was happy, he will be too.

That statement was a downright lie and he knew it. He's actually slight angry at Naruto for not waiting for him, just one more year…one year and they could be together again. Naruto was the very reason he survived his trials in Sound, he promised himself, no matter how much he suffered, he will live and return to Konoha. He had fulfilled that, but finding that Naruto and everyone else had moved on without him gave him heartache. It hurts…knowing that Naruto loved another and he felt lonelier that he ever had in the pack.

He clutched his heart, if only he hadn't been kidnapped… if only the Uchiha massacre didn't happened…if only he was still by Naruto's side… Sasuke wiped the warm tears threatening to fall from the corners of his onyx eyes. Sasuke then looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was the wolf demon Hyuuga Neji, his expression unreadable. Sasuke raised his eyebrow with confusion in his eyes and asked,

"What is it Hyuuga?"

"Let's take a walk, Uchiha, I need to talk to you."

Sasuke glared at him for mentioning his true name in public and glanced around suspiciously for any out lookers. Neji gave a short chuckle and said,

"Don't worry, no one heard us, I assume that you wanted to escape Kakashi's death grip?"

Sasuke gave a hesitate nod and followed Neji out to the streets. The streets busy with pack members running about with decorations and building stalls for the festival tomorrow. Neji remained silent as he led Sasuke to a quieter spot of the den. Neji knew of his identity 5 days ago with his chat with Kakashi. He was on guard duty back then and managed to overhear the entire conversation. Needless to say, he jumped onto the pair and confronted them. And after several threats and some slight begging form Sasuke, Neji promised to keep Sasuke's identity a secret. But that doesn't stop him from following Sasuke all the time obviously trying to keep him out of harm's way; eventually both of them had developed a bond due to their similar personality and preferences. Although both of them had spent awfully a lot of time escaping from fan girls who had gone even persistent as the festival approaches…

The wolf led him to an isolated area of the den while Sasuke followed in confusion. The Neji today seemed different, he seemed oddly tense than usual. Finally, he stopped suddenly as they reached a clearing. Neji spoke with his back facing Sasuke,

"Sorry Sasuke, but this is the only way that we can solve your dilemma and his as well."

"Neji? What are you talking about?" asked Sasuke but he stopped abruptly when he saw a familiar blond figure that hunted his dreams at night.

_Naruto._

Neji turned around and gave him a knowing smirk as he walked away. _'He's so dead when I get my claws on him,' _thought pissed of Sasuke.

While he was plotting Neji's demise in his head, he didn't notice that Naruto had slowly approach him. As Naruto spoke, he broke him out of his blood and gore daydreaming.

"Sasuke,"

"Naruto, what do you want?"

Naruto glanced at him with worry in his blue orbs, resulting a skip in Sasuke's heart, and gave a sigh and spoke,

"Why?"

"You have to be more specific Uzumaki," snapped Sasuke as he folded his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me who you really are?" asked Naruto with his volume slightly rose.

The surrounding temperature seemed to have seemingly dropped with a cold autumn breeze blew past them. Sasuke shivered slightly, cat demons were not known to be resistant to cold. Sasuke gave a soft sigh as he saw Naruto was waiting for an answer. To be honest, he's been expecting this confrontation for a while now, he knew that Naruto as the alpha would have plenty of resources to find out his true identity.

"Because I don't want you to know."

"WHY?" shouted an enraged Naruto, he's eyes gotten a red tingle in it.

"Is there any meaning if you do? I'm dead remember?" replied Sasuke with the coldest tone he could muster while averting Naruto's stare.

Suddenly Naruto grabbed the front of Sasuke's clothes and pulled Sasuke against him, forcing Sasuke to look into his blue deeps. The fox demon growled as he saw surprise written in Sasuke's face. Sasuke's face was heating up with a rosy blush as he felt Naruto pulling him closer. He's heart beat quicken at a rapid pace as he felt Naruto's warm breath on him.

'_The freah scent of summer…he hasn't change a bit…"_

However, Naruto's voice broke him out of his retrieve.

"Teme! You're very important to us, to me! Everybody misses you a lot when you were gone! We are all very sad! Sakura-chan cried for days! It's meaningless if you are around to grow up with us! You…you are my most important friend!"

Sasuke's heart clutched, _'Just a friend…that's what I am to you isn't? You don't need me anymore…'_ While thinking so, he tried to hold back the tears in his eyes.

Making up his mind, Sasuke furiously gave Naruto a hard shove, creating a greater distance between them, Naruto took a few steps backwards, staring at Sasuke with surprise on his face. Sasuke shook his head dejectedly and said coldly,

"Friend…is that what you only think of me dobe, in that case, why did you give me this years ago?" he waved his silver bracelet in front of him as his voice volume gotten higher.

Naruto widen his blue eyes as he saw the flash of silver and the painful expression on Sasuke's face, he was obviously fighting back tears.

'_Sasuke…'_

Naruto lowered his head and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but that time have passed, besides, I have a mate now…"

"Is that it Naruto? Am I just a mere phase to you? What am I to you? Answer me!" Sasuke was practically screaming now, his usual cool composure crumbled under the built up bitter emotion and frustration for the pass few days. His chest hurts and it felt hard to breathe, he was certain that his hot tears were flowing uncontrollably now._ 'Why? Why? Why had I tried to hard to survive in Sound? Why didn't I just end my suffering by dying? Why did I return to Konoha? Why couldn't everything return back to normal? Why Naruto…'_

Without realizing it, he was pulled into a hug in Naruto's tanned arms. Naruto was rubbing smooth circles on his tense back in an attempt to calm him down. He could felt Sasuke's sobbing and hiccupping along with the warm tears that were soaking up his jacket. Naruto's heart tighten, it's painful to watch his ex-lover and best friend crumbled down like this, regardless the fact that Sasuke was gone for a few years and he was aware of Sasuke's encounters in Sound from Neji, but that Uchiha pride still run in his veins. But to see him breaking down like this was just…sad.

Gently, he pulled Sasuke out of his embrace and wiped away his flowing tears with his thumb softly. His heart gave a jump as he saw Sasuke leaned into his gentle touch. He glanced at Sasuke, he looked awful when he managed to have a closer look, Sasuke seemed thinner, like he's been skipping meals, his eyes were red and puffy from crying and there were dark bangs under his eyes, obviously he had trouble sleeping. But the worse of all is his eyes, Sasuke's onyx eyes in his memory contained a fiery sparkle and untamable, however his current eyes were filled with despair, sorrow and other raging emotions.

Naruto held Sasuke by his upper arm firmly and said,

"I'm sorry, Sasuke… I really am… But you will always be my best friend… you always are…"

Sasuke feeling calmer now from his emotional outburst whispered sadly, "You're going to leave be behind too aren't you? Naruto."

"Sasuke, please…" said Naruto as he desprately tried to make Sasuke understand but he was cut off when Sasuke grabbed and placed something in his hand. The silver bracelet… Naruto widen his eyes as he saw it and he tried to speak, however, Sasuke beaten him to it.

"You should give that to someone else Naruto, it's not my place to wear it anymore… I guess it's time for me to move on too…"

"Sasuke… don't do this…"

Sasuke looked at Naruto's cerulean orbs with a great effort, and replied,

"I'm glad I've met you Naruto. I hope that we can still be friends."

"Sasuke…"

"I'll see you around Naruto… good luck to you and your mate."

With that, Sasuke turned around and headed back to his given apartment leaving Naruto staring at his wake. Once Naruto was out of sight, he ran back without stopping until he was safe to let out the sorrow of his bleeding heart in the comforts of his own bed. Elsewhere, Naruto clutched his chest as it suddenly felt very heavy after seeing Sasuke's departing back.

'_Forgive me…Sasuke…'_

**A/N: How was that ppls? Sorry it took so long; I guess I just ran out of inspiration. Well, the fic had been focusing on Naruto and Sasuke for now, don't worry, others will appear in the next chapter. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters._

**Heh… Sorry it took so long to update… I think Shika's laziness is rubbing off me… *laughes***

**Chapter 7**

As dusk approached during the evening of the Harvesting Festival in Konoha, disappearance of the last rays of the sun finally signals the official opening of the festival. Pack members of all kind crowed all around the den, causing people to speak at the top of their voices out of excitement, creating a very noisy atmosphere. Young cubs ran around with excitement while cheering and squealing to one another. Some pack members of the allied pack, Sand, even attend to the festival.

Sasuke walked around the excitement-filled den while trying to avoid any physical contact with anyone and scowling at anyone who bumped into him. He was alone tonight mainly because everyone he knew was a couple or had mates of their own. He occasionally glared at random couples out of frustration and scaring the shit out of them with his trademark Uchiha death glare. However, his priority tonight is to avoid Naruto and his mate, it will be far too awkward.

Initially he didn't even want to attend this ceremony, instead opting to stay in his apartment and sleep, but no, Naruto just had to show up and dragged him out of his slumber and threaten him with a month's worth of guard duty with Kakashi if he sat out of the festival. _'Freaking dumbass…'_ Even so, Naruto properly had his best interest at heart and did not want him to be left out from the others.

This led him back to here, stalking around the streets while desperately avoiding the fangirls (and some boys) and munching on his onigiri. '_Pitiful. If only Itachi could see me now… he'll never let me live it down…'_ He gave an amused chuckle while thinking so. Suddenly, he heard someone calling for him and he turned his head while glancing at the crowd as his raven cat ears pickled.

"Sasuke-kun!"

It was Sakura, Sasuke may have disliked her in the past, but now she is much more tolerable and sensible. However, he must look out for the temper, and her punches are really painful…ouch…

Seeing that he had no choice, he walked towards Sakura group. Besides the pink cat demon, standing beside her was Rock Lee, the leopard demon with his usual shiny smile on him, courtesy of his mentor Gai-sensei. Shikamaru, the brown deer demon was staring blankly into space, obviously bored along with the blonde bird demon Yamanaka Ino, who was waving at him with enthusiasm. Standing next to Shikamaru was the chubby bear demon, Akimichi Chouji who was munching on his potato chips non-stop and Tenten the brown squirrel demon was staring at Chouji distastefully. Besides, he was graced with a seemingly familiar grin by Inuzuka Kiba and his mate, the rather timid grey rabbit demon, Hyuuga Hinata. Aburame Shino, the black cat demon was standing quite a distance from the noisy group being his usual self.

The group greeted him with their own different manner and dragged him to numerous brightly coloured stalls. Sakura and Lee was by his side most of the time, obviously not wanting to let him felt out of place due to the constant chatting of the group about their experience during the period of his absence. Sakura was constantly giving him fleeting worried glances which were beginning to annoy him. However, besides the discomfort, he learned many things, like how Kakashi managed to court Iruka-sensei to be his mate (everybody laughed when remembering that, except Shino), or how Neji had became the soon-to-be mate of Sabaku no Gaara, the alpha male of the Sand pack told by a seemingly cheerful Hinata (which seemingly explained his absence for the night), and Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei finally became a couple told by a bored Shikamaru along with the youthful tales of Maito Gai by Lee with tears flowing down his large eyes until Tenten got fed up and whacked him on the head whereares Sakura giggled.

Throughout the night, Sasuke felt some of his tension had dissolved and starting to fell more relax then the past few weeks. He noticed that nobody mention Naruto's name for the entire night, obviously they had heard of their predicament and now attempting to keep the topic out for the night, until…

Naruto and Haku shown up when they were searching for the best spot to view the fireworks.

There was a very awkward silence as a staring contest was conducted between Naruto and Sasuke, the atmosphere suddenly became highly strain with tension, until Kiba broke the silence,

"Hey! Why are we still standing here? Let's find a spot before all the good spots are taken!" he exclaimed with that huge grin on his tanned face.

Hinata quickly intervene, "Yes… the closing ceremony is going to start soon!"

The group suddenly broken a chaos of noises, trying to cover the strain atmosphere and Naruto gave Sasuke one of his bright grins and said,

"Teme!"

Sasuke heart fluttered and he could felt his face heating up as Naruto smile at him, but he quickly gathered his compose and replied coolly,

"Tch, dobe… I haven't seen you for the entire festival; I thought that you ended up dead in a gutter or something."

"TEME!!!"

Before their bickering could escalate any further, Sakura punched both of them on the head, hard. Naruto looked ready to yell at Sakura for that until Haku placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder gently and said with a smile,

"Why don't we find the spot for the fireworks together now?"

Everybody agreed with the brown rabbit demon and quickly headed of to a small grassy hill near the festival site and waited.

KA-BAM!

The fireworks were shot up to the twilight sky as midnight settled in. Brilliant sparkling lights were mapped onto the dark sky, like flowers of different colours exploded onto the night skies. Everybody was cheering and the atmosphere below the hill was thick with excitement. Kiba and Hinata were making out passionately and no one bothered to stop them because of the distraction provided by the fireworks, good thing Neji ain't here, otherwise he would rip Kiba to pieces, literally. Sasuke tore his eyes from the sky and noticed that Sakura and Lee were holding their hands together and looking at each other in an endearing manner. He gave a small smile and turned his head and saw Neji was hugging a red raccoon demon tightly at the foot of the hill, he assumed him to be Gaara.

However, his heart gave a painful throb when he saw Naruto and Haku kissing passionately a few feet away from him. Their lips were interlocked and a trail of saliva was dripping down Haku's pale cheek. He heard Naruto gave a husky moan of pleasure and wrapped his fox tail around Haku waist possessively. Their faces were flushed and pants could be heard as their lips parted to regain their breaths to kiss yet again.

Unable to take it, Sasuke silently fled the scene and ran up the windy hill without pausing. Angrily, he rubbed the warm tears that were threatening to flow down his cheeks, his chest hurt and his heart clutched.

'_Why? Haven't I gotten over the fact that Naruto is in love with Haku?'_

'_Why can't I feel glad that he is happy?'_

'_Why the hell am I crying over that dobe?'_

Sasuke finally came to a stop at the top of the small hill; the echoing sounds of the festival's fireworks fell deaf to his ears. He couldn't take it anymore, his other friends may have moved on without him, but the one thing he couldn't ever accept is that, Naruto did too. Even after these years of suffering, Sasuke's love for the blonde fox hadn't lessen, even one bit. He knew he was being selfish, that Naruto deserved to be happy, but he couldn't help to feel betrayed. And the most heart-breaking part is that,

_Naruto doesn't need him anymore…_

Naruto and Sasuke had gone through everything together, they shared their happiness and sorrow together, and they laughed and cried together, they comforted each other during difficult times. But now, Naruto had left that behind and shared that with someone else…Haku.

In short, Sasuke is kinda envious of him. He got to enjoy the things he could never had… Sasuke will give anything to be in his place. Damn, he's acting like a love-sick idiot.

Sasuke shivered and wrapped his arms around himself as a night chilling wind blew pass him. The finale of the fireworks ended when he was deep in thought and the total silence around him was unbearable. As much as he enjoyed the silence from time to time, this silence just made him felt…

_Alone._

He gave a dry sob at that depressing thought, yes, he was alone… everything felt different now… everything changed… everyone grown… even him…however… he grown differently than the others. He felt tense and fear all the time, fear of his past from Sound will eventually catch up to him. He knew that they will come soon; it's just the matter of when. He glanced downward of the hill and saw the cheerful and happy faces of his friends, and his sight lingered on Naruto's smiling face longer than the others.

He suppressed his oncoming tears and turned his back from the cheery atmosphere below and looked forward to the dark path in front. He made his decision, he had to leave, he cannot stay here to cost more trouble to the others, it's already bad enough they worried about him; he didn't want them to get hurt too. They won't miss him, they'll move on eventually. Sasuke gave a sigh and walked towards the darkness of the forest and took a step forwards.

Suddenly, a burst of strong wind was heading towards him, and out of instinct, he avoided it effortlessly, resulting the attack to destroy some of the trees behind him. He kneeled on the grass to gain a better footing as he saw his opponents.

_Dosu, Zaku and Kin…_

The Sound trio and Sasuke faced of; neither was willing to move in case of an attack. The trio was about the same age as Sasuke, however, their difference in power was evident. Apparently, Dosu, the sensible one of the group realized that, broke the strain silence and spoke,

"Long time no see Sasuke-kun, I see that you're still fine as ever."

Sasuke angrily cut off Dosu's speech and hissed, "What do you want? Let me say this first, I will not return to Sound."

Kin stood forward and said, "Unfortunately Uchiha, neither of us will be able to return to the pack unless you come with us, its best you come quietly, and we won't want the Konoha pack to know of our presence now would we?"

Sasuke glared at her, he never did like her voice, it's sort of high-pitched and it pissed him off. Glaring, he replied, "Then, you'll just have to deal with it yourself then, I ain't going back to Orochimaru even if hell freezes over!"

Zaku, the implusive one then snarled, "Well, let's get this over then, Uchiha!" Saying so, the dog demon lunched towards Sasuke while preparing his 'Air Slicer' attack.

Sasuke narrowed his now crimson eyes, with his family bloodline, the Sharingan on, he easily detected Zaku's movement and counter-strike him by quickly grabbing his left arm and twisted it behind his back. Not wasting time, he slammed Zaku's brown head to the ground, hard. Zaku fell with an 'Oof!' and was temporary overwhelmed by dizziness.

"He's fast!" Kin exclaimed as she hurried to cast a genjutsu, forgetting the fact that Sasuke was immune to it due to his Sharingan, however, Sasuke appeared out of thin air beside her and hit the pressure point on her neck, causing her to be out cold before she had a chance to complete her jutsu. She fell fast down onto the grassy earth, with Sasuke standing beside her.

Dosu observed the fight with keen eyes, as expected, the raven cat was highly skilled, he had seen the Uchiha took out an entire pack by himself and he knew not to underestimate Sasuke. He gave a shaky sigh as he felt Sasuke's killer aura and crimson eyes focused on him. Sasuke evaluated Dosu carefully and he knew that he was different than the others, and definitely smarter. He learned not to attack Dosu by close distance because of his unique sound techniques that acted directly on the victim's body. He placed his body into a fighting stance, preparing to unleash his ninjutsu attack.

"SASUKE!!!"

The voice carried across the field clearly, and that voice was unmistakable.

"Naruto?" Sasuke whispered in surprise as he took a backward glance and saw the familiar form of the blonde fox. However, that one distraction was enough for Dosu to take his action. He quickly ran towards Sasuke and took out a vial of lilac liquid from his long sleeves and cast it towards the distracted raven.

Sasuke realized that, but it was too late, the vial smashed at Sasuke's feet and clouds of purple mist began to emerge from it, enveloping Sasuke's form immediately. Sasuke chocked and gasped as he found himself unable to breathe properly, and the echoing voices of his concerned companions slowly vanished into the surroundings.

Naruto and the gang heard an explosion uphill along with the crashing sound of several trees shortly after the fireworks finale. In addition of Sasuke's sudden disappearance, even an idiot could put two to two together. When they rushed to the explosion scene, they saw Sasuke facing off with three Sound pack members, although 2 of them were now of cold.

In his worrying state, he shouted out Sasuke's name without giving it a thought. However, that very action had led to Sasuke's defeat. The grey badger demon sprinted towards Sasuke and threw something at him while he was distracted, and enveloping him in a dark purple mist. The badger demon quickly grabbed both of his companions and ran off, with Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru on his tail.

Naruto hurriedly ran to Sasuke's side as he purple cloud began to dissipate. Sasuke was coughing and gasping, in concern he shook Sasuke's suddenly stilled form.

"Ooi! Sasuke! Are you alright! Answer me teme!"

Sakura whacked him on the head, scolding something about not shaking an injured person in that matter, however, her words fell under deaf ears, for his sole concern was Sasuke's being. Sasuke seemed to be in a trance, his usually fiery onyx eyes were blank and his lips were parted slightly, like he was seeing something.

Suddenly, Sasuke's black eyes shifted to crimson red and he launched his sharp claws towards Naruto. Naruto, sensing the sudden killer aura managed to avoid the attack with nothing less than a cut on his red yukata. The others were stunned at the sudden change of events as Sasuke continued to attack Naruto with his claws. Naruto quickly dodged most of the attacks while still in shock. Naruto was fast, but Sasuke was faster and had managed to land several deep cuts on Naruto's tanned form. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto quickly evaded Sasuke's oncoming attack and grabbed him by his shoulder and his wrist and pushed him onto the grassy ground. He quickly saddled him and held Sasuke's wrists in an iron-grip to prevent him from moving.

"Sasuke! What's wrong with you snapped out of it!" he yelled in the raven's face while attempting to cope with his struggling. "Damn it! Someone! Help me restrain him!" he yelled to the stunned group in desperation.

Sakura and Lee seemed to have snapped out of their shock and quickly pinned Sasuke's waving arms down. Sasuke, now sensing that he's movement was completely restricted, stopped struggling and stared blankly up to Naruto's worried slightly red-tingled cerulean eyes, and smirked.

Suddenly, Lee, Sakura and Naruto were thrown back as an electrical current raced through their bodies and they were temporary paralyzed. But before Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, Shino and Haku could intervene, Sasuke had gathered his balance and stomped on Naruto's chest, a sickening crack rang through the air. Naruto felt an excruciating wave of pain flowed through his entire form; he coughed and spluttered some crimson blood out of his mouth. _'Damn…my ribs…'_ With a huge effort, he glanced up to Sasuke, and saw Sasuke raising his claw to give the final blow with an evil smirk on his face.

'_Sasuke…'_

"NO! SASUKE-KUN! PLEASE STOP!!!"

Sakura pulled her numbing body and wrapped her arms around Sasuke's body. She was sobbing and hot tears were pouring uncontrollable from her green eyes. Haku had placed himself beside Naruto and trying to ease the worsening of his injuries. Lee managed to stand on his feet and now staring at the scene unfolded. '_Sakura-san…'_

Something seemed to have snapped within Sasuke as he arms fell limp in Sakura's grip and his eyes reverted back to his black colour. Sakura, sensing this gave a sigh of relief and fell into Lee's arms in exhaustion. The others gave a sigh of relief as well.

Sasuke stared at his bloodied hands in horror and he took in the scene before him in shock. He was filled with horror when he was the cuts and scratches on him, as well as the blood that was trailing from his lips.

'_No…no…not again…'_

Naruto saw Sasuke's horror expression and attempted to comfort him, he tried to speak but the only word he could spoken is

"Sa…s…su…ke…" before he gave another round of violent coughing. Haku quickly patted him gently on his back, telling him not to stain himself.

"No…" Naruto tilted his head and saw Sasuke looking at him with an almost scared expression, alarm bells rung in his mind as he saw Sasuke took a step backwards. He tried to stand up but another shot of pain ran through his body.

Sasuke saw Naruto's effort and whispered, "Stay away from me…" Naruto looked at him with alarm on his face. _'No…Sasuke… don't… don't leave me again…'_

Sasuke took a few more steps backwards and whispered, each words growing in volume, "Stay away from me…I shouldn't have came back…I… Leave me Alone!!"

Saying so, he fled without a backwards glance into the forest's darkness, while ignoring Naruto's calls for him.

**A/N: Yo peeps! I know that Sasuke's is kinda OOC in this fic, but it's quite hard to keep him in character here, either way I'll try to maintain his personality as much as possible. Please review! **


	9. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters._

**A/N: Heh…heh… sorry for the constant late updates… but I was busy with the endless amount of assignment and exams. Either way, college is busy, I'll try to update as soon as possible next time.**

Chapter 8

"_Murderer! Give me back my mother!"_

" _Why? What have we ever done to you!"_

"_Stop please! Please! I don't want to die!"_

"_I'll do anything! Just don't kill my child!"_

_And in each plea, crimson blood was spilled, staining himself and the ground around him with the warm liquid and each time, there's a bloody red crescent moon hung brightly on the midnight skies. _

The cold rain droplets were pouring down onto his already soaked form along with his torn yukata from his frantic running. But Sasuke didn't care, all he could thought about is out put as much distance between him and the Konoha den, from Naruto…

'_Naruto…'_

The cat demon paused in his steps at that thought, Naruto… his most important person, the person who he hoped to see during his time in the Sound pack, the person who acknowledged him, not as an Uchiha, but as Sasuke… the person that he couldn't live without, the person he loved the most…

He hurt him.

The memory of Naruto being injured by him lying on the grass, with his expressive cerulean blue eyes staring at him and blood staining on his tanned body was just too much to bear. He hurt someone again, and this time, a person that he valued and loved more than the others. The memories he buried deep within his mind had now resurfaced.

Fear… guilt… sorrow…

That's what he felt each time he saw the life disappearing from their fearful eyes. Their pleas before their final breath and the tears caused by fear… fear of him. And every time, his sharp claws ripped through their fragile body with their final scream rang through the air before their deaths. Whether they're children, women or the elderly, no mercy was given, as Orochimaru's orders are absolute. Just like now.

Sasuke finally understood, why he could escaped from Sound so easily, it's not that he can, it's because Orochimaru wanted him to. The target that Sasuke was to kill next is the alpha male of the Konoha pack…

Uzumaki Naruto…

He finally understood everything, Orochimaru knew him like the back of his palm, he knew that Sasuke will return to the only place he could ever return too, Konoha, his birthplace, and Kabuto along with the Sound Five were merely meant to make sure that he'll stay on track to their plot. Zaku, Kin and Dosu were the trigger, their orders weren't to retrieve him, but to deliver the potion Orochimaru developed to him, which triggered the appearance of his other side.

Cold, merciless and a perfect killing machine, a product of his research.

And all this time, no matter where he goes, he could never escape Orochimaru's shadow. All this time, he was merely playing his role, as Orochimaru's puppet to bring down Konoha, starting with Naruto's death.

Sasuke stared at his pale hands before looking up the grayish clouds and laughed, his laughter echoed throughout the dark forest. He laughed until he had no strength left to do so, as the cold water droplets continued pounding on his dark form. He finally came to a conclusion,

'_I'm not worthy of Naruto… Naruto is the alpha male of Konoha, a figure worthy of respect… Compared to him, I'm just nothing…nothing but a bloodstained murderer, stained by the blood of the countless others he killed before him. He doesn't need me anymore, he has many friends, pack members and his mate, Haku, a person who is kind and gentle, a person that will take care of him and he has many people who will support him no matter what happens. I have nothing left… no family… no friends… no Itachi…no Naruto… there's no more reason to remain here anymore. My existence threatens Naruto's…I must go…'_

With that thought, he continued running, deeper into the forest. Sasuke's sensitive ears picked up that the beta Kurenai along with his co-betas Kiba, Hinata and Shino had been tracking him, but then the storm prevented them from tracking any further, and they were forced to return to the den. Ignoring the dangers posed by this violent autumn storm, he continued forward on fours in the cold, dark forest with his sorrowful onyx eyes gleaming with determination.

'_Don't worry Naruto… I will protect your existence… by destroying mine… because to me… your dreams are much more important… I lost my right to have dreams a long time ago… '_

*****

Naruto worried blue eyes stared unblinkingly at the window of his office as his fingers tapped impatiently on his wooden desk. Naruto was worried sick from when he woke up in the infirmary with Haku sitting beside him. He nearly panic when Haku told him that Sasuke had ran off and hasn't return yet. Hearing that, he immediately checked himself out of the infirmary and ran straight into his office with Haku by his side. He rammed the door opened, causing the door to nearly dislocate from it's hinges and the occupants in his office, including Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi and the Suna's alpha male Gaara to stared at him, shocked, until…

"GAKI!!! What the hell are you doing?!" Tsunade punched him on the head while yelling, "You're injured! Your ribs are broken and you should be in bed!"

Kakashi tried to calm the blond lion demon by saying, "Ma…ma… Tsunade-sama, calm down, Naruto is injured after all…"

However, Naruto practically shouted, "How can I sleep now when Sasuke is missing again!!!"

"Naruto-kun, please calm down…" Haku tried to calm his fox mate down but his efforts were futile. As Naruto began shouting again,

"How can I calm down at this time! Sasuke is out there alone in this storm! He might be dead if we don't do something now!"

"Gaki…" snarled Tsunade, while flexing her fingers. To prevent the short-tempered Tsunade from punching Naruto through numerous walls in the building and render him in a week coma, Jiraiya had to step in.

"Naruto! What's the use of loosing your cool now! You may be worried about Sasuke but don't forget! You're the alpha male of the Konoha pack! How could you lead an entire pack when you cannot keep your cool at a time like this?"

That shut Naruto up instantly, his worried cerulean eyes stared onto the ground in shame. _'Ero-sannin is right, loosing my temper wouldn't help the situation at all, as the alpha male, I cannot be overwhelmed by emotions that could jeopardize the safety of the pack… and Sasuke…'_ Naruto gave a mumbled apology that managed to calm Tsunade down.

She gave a sigh, knowing how one will feel during the verge of loosing someone precious to you; she had the similar experience with her ex-mate Dan, who died during the war with Mist as well as her younger brother. The ex-alpha female of the pack ruffled Naruto's blonde spiky locks and said, "Don't worry gaki, we've already sent out Kurenai's team to track him down, I'm sure that we'll hear from them soon."

Naruto glanced up at her thanking her silently, his eyes filled with slight relief and a grin on his face. Tsunade swore that Naruto is still like a little brat sometimes, despite of his status and famed as one of the strongest demons that Konoha pack had ever raised. In the background, both Kakashi and Jiraiya had an amused smirk on their faces, while Gaara just rolled his eyes and Haku gave a small smile.

"Just now, the Uchiha tried to kill you didn't he?" asked Gaara as he folded his arms.

Naruto's grin dropped immediately as he placed his tanned hands on his newly healed ribs, but his eyes shore in determination, "Sasuke might be a teme, Gaara, but he will never hurt me on purpose! He is my best friend but I believe him!"

Light aqua eyes met the bright unweaving cerulean blues; the raccoon rolled his eyes again and sighed, '_Typical'_. "Fine, I believe you, but why did he suddenly went on a murder rampage?"

This time, Tsunade cut in, "Sakura already told me about the lilac potion the Sound member thrown at him. I've already told Shizune to collect the remaining sample for analysis. The results should be out in a couple of days, that potion must be what triggered his sudden change in personality."

Naruto nodded, too worried to say anything as he tapped on his wooden desk, as he waited for any news of the pursuit team. Half agonizing hours later, Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru bustled into his office, completely soaked to the toe. Naruto quickly straighten himself and asked, "Reports?"

Shikamaru shook his head and replied, "The Sound members got away, we were closing in on them near the border but that weasel, Kabuto jumped out of nowhere and intercepted us. Chouji is injured; Ino is healing him in the infirmary now."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds and asked, "I see, how's Chouji's condition?"

"I'm not really sure, Ino said that Kabuto severed some of his intercostals muscles near the lungs, and Chouji is having troubles breathing properly, so we had to retreat and the storm was getting really bad that time."

"It's alright, as long everyone is alright, you should rest now, Shikamaru, I'm sure that you're exhausted." said Naruto with relief that his friends return safely.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru rubbed his brown hair and walked out of the office.

Kiba glanced at Naruto and sighed, "Sorry man, but we lost track of Sasuke, because of the storm. Akamaru and I lost his scent and Shino's bugs cannot track him in this weather."

Akamaru gave a small whine and drooped his white head, obviously sorry.

Naruto closed his eyes and calmed himself down, truthfully he's on the verge of shouting and panicking right about now. But he held himself back, he's the alpha male of the Konoha pack afterall.

"Kiba, do you know which direction Sasuke went?"

"Hinata said that she saw him heading North, nearing the Valley of the End."

Naruto thought about this for a while, '_Tsunade-baachan is gonna be so pissed on what I am about to do.'_ Naruto stood up suddenly, starting everyone in the room.

"Kiba, you and Akamaru should go back to rest and wait out the storm" said Naruto in a commading voice, as he pulled up his jacket from his chair.

"Then what are you going to do Naruto-kun?" asked Haku in concern, he had a bad feeling about this.

"What do you think? I'm going after Sasuke of course!"

The room was silent for a few seconds and the uproar began.

"YOU WANT TO DIE GAKI?!!!"

"Naruto, that's a very rash action, you dumbass!"

"Are you sucidal?"

"Naruto-kun! You might die!"

"WOOF!"

Only Kakahi and Kiba remained silent, Kiba is due to his seething at himself to unable to track down Sasuke while Kakashi already anticipated this action.

Naruto gave everyone a stern glare which kinda quiets them down. "Sasuke is a part of the pack, and as alpha male, it is my duty to take care of every single member. Sasuke is my responsibility and my best friend, I must go and bring him back."

Everyone looked at him, speechless for a moment until,

"Don't die gaki."

Naruto looked and Tsunade and grinned widely, "Thanks baa-chan!" Saying so he sprinted out of the office, not before hearing Haku's worried voice, "Be careful Naruto-kun."

Naruto gave a wave and rushed out of the building and into the storm.

'_Wait for me Sasuke, I'm coming for you.'_

*****

Quite a distance away from the Konoha border, 5 demons in black cloaks with red clouds on them stood on top of a cliff.

"You sure he's here Itachi-san?" his question was met with silence.

"I've always wanted to come to Konoha, un! Is there anything I can blow it up?"

"Shut up you brat!"

"Yay! We finally came to Konoha! Isn't it nice senpai!"

The cat demon with the glowing crimson eyes stared at the scene, the Valley of the End is in sight.

"Let's go."


End file.
